The Commander

by CJ Williams

  The chancellor gasped with delight at the beautiful scene.

  “This moon is quite active, geologically,” George explained. “If you look closely you might notice a striation across the surface. It may be that in a few thousand years this moon could—”

  George stopped talking and an unexpected silence filled the bridge.

  “Could what?” the chancellor asked breathlessly.

  “Warning, Commander. Unknown vessel detected by reconnaissance drones.” George’s voice had returned to monotone. “The intruder is on course for Jigu. Standby. Reports updating…”

  “Take a seat, Miss,” Luke barked at the chancellor.

  “Bakkui confirmed. The configuration of the craft is similar to prior engagements, but immensely larger. Patrol ships are moving to intercept. We are ready to engage upon your command.”

  The view outside shifted slightly past the nearby moon.

  “Hold it, George!” Luke ordered. “We can’t go into combat with the chancellor aboard. Hold your position.”

  “What?” the chancellor jumped up in outrage. “Of course you can.”

  “Quiet, I’m thinking,” Luke said.

  “George, shoot it; or whatever you do.”

  “I said, quiet!” Luke shoved her back into her seat. “Status?”

  “Two patrol ships arriving dead ahead.”

  “I see them,” Luke said.

  The two ships were faintly discernable in the middle of the viewscreen. They were far past the nearby moon.

  “Don’t you dare order me like that!” The chancellor stood up again, incredulous at Luke’s treatment.

  Luke wrapped an arm around her and covered her mouth to silence her outburst so he could hear what George was saying.

  “Our warships are establishing a—”

  The chancellor wriggled free. “Stop it! I said stop!”

  Gravity disappeared. The lights inside the ship went out, casting the bridge into darkness. The only illumination came from reflected sunlight from the ringed giant. Luke and the furious chancellor floated in the bridge.

  “Our warships are shutting down as ordered,” George said. “Their engines and weapons systems are offline.”

  Luke snagged his foot on the arm of the captain’s seat. “Belay that order George! Get ready to engage!”

  “Unable, Commander.”

  “Damn it! You answer to me, not this girl!”

  Luke pulled himself into his chair. The chancellor was drifting toward the far wall, her arms and legs gyrating madly. He ignored her struggles.

  “The order to shut down was not for me, Commander. It was for her warships.”

  Luke felt his temper slipping away. “Those are my warships, you idiot! Tell them to come back online or they’ll be…”

  In the center screen Luke saw two distant flashes.”

  “George, was that…”

  “Affirmative, Commander. Both patrol ships were destroyed.”

  “George! What did you do? How could you let that happen?”

  “Commander. The order did not come from me.”

  “Well it sure as hell didn’t come from me, George. And if you transmitted her orders to them over my head, so help me God, I will take you apart with my bare hands!”

  “Please calm yourself, Commander.”

  “Turn the damn gravity back on George! What the hell are you playing at?”

  “Commander, the order came from a higher authority.”

  “I’m the highest authority in this system, George. Now turn the gravity back on!” Luke commanded again.

  “Going offline,” George said.

  Silence filled the bridge.

  “George?” Luke called out. “George, are you there?”

  There was no reply. The silence was almost total. Only the ruffling material of the chancellor’s clothing could be heard along with her frustrated gasps as she tried to grab onto something.

  “George?” Luke said again.

  The chancellor touched the far wall and tried to reorient herself. She only managed to propel herself back in Luke’s direction.

  “George?”

  As the chancellor drifted by, Luke grabbed her outstretched arm and pushed her into her chair. The young woman’s expression was no longer cross; it was now filled with fear. “What is....”

  Luke cut her off by placing his index finger against her lips.

  “Something’s really wrong here,” Luke said. There was no anger in his demeanor now. “I’ve never seen George shut down before.” Luke turned his full attention on the young woman. “Just sit there. Hold on to the arms of the seat, and would you please shut up!”

  Luke launched himself expertly toward the front window, grabbing the handrail as he approached. He scanned the space in the general area of the two dead ships. Then he saw it. Coming from behind the gas giant, moving fast, was the Bakkui ship. It was huge, but impossible to say how big. Certainly, it was larger than a colony-class spacecraft.

  It passed through the debris field of his two warships without slowing and in another instant was lost to view, obscured by the moon in front of his own warship.

  “Hang on, Commander,” George said.

  Gravity came back on and George zoomed toward the moon. He favored the side closest to the gas giant.

  Unprepared for the resumption of gravity, Luke had to pick himself off the floor. “What’s going on?”

  “Commander, the order for those ships to stand down came from a level-two-device. That is the higher authority I was referring to?”

  That didn’t make any sense to Luke. “A level-two-device? Where did that come from? Is Sam back or something?”

  “Commander, what I am trying to say is that the order came from the Bakkui ship. It is the level-two-device!”

  Luke was stunned by the revelation.

  “The order was directed to our two warships. It did not detect me. Had it done so, it would likely have given me the same order and I would have had no choice but to comply. I am positioning myself to stay hidden behind this moon. I cannot let it know we are here.”

  The reality of the Bakkui menace came into focus. All of the Bakkui ships they had faced up until now were drones. That was why they had not found any living beings engaged in this war. The entire Bakkui invasion was being orchestrated by this level-two-device. A supercomputer even more powerful than George.

  “It must be a rogue,” Luke suggested. “You said yourself there were instances of rogue devices; of AIs that had something wrong with their personality modules. Like Toby.”

  “That’s true, Commander. But without my archives, I cannot verify such an event. It is possible that the defection of a high-level device would not even be recorded. The Nobility is known for suppressing embarrassing information.”

  George reached the moon and established a position a few thousand feet above the surface. The warship moved slowly, counter to the direction of the enemy ship.

  “So you’re telling me that if it sees us, we’re done. It can tell you to shut down.”

  “Exactly, Commander,” George confirmed.

  “Shut off your communications then. Don’t listen.”

  “Impossible, Commander. Communication between AIs is built-in. It’s on a different band from all other frequencies. AIs are built so it is impossible to ignore one another.”

  “And yet, you’re hiding from it.”

  “Only because of my programming to serve the Nobility. Their goal to stop this menace is my highest priority at the moment. But it can be overridden by an order from a level-two-device.”

  Chancellor Bo’erm interrupted their debate. “What about all our other warships? Do they have to obey this monster as well?”

  “I’m afraid so, Madam Chancellor.”

  “Well, we can’t just sit here,” she exclaimed. “Didn’t you say it’s on the way to my planet? It’s going to attack, isn’t it?”

  “I surmise that is a logical objective,” George admitted.


  “Surmise?” The Chancellor’s anger was rising. “Logical objective? What is wrong with you? Shoot it down! I order you to attack.”

  “Lady,” Luke said without taking his eyes from the window’s view, “if you don’t shut up I’ll lock you in your room. Now let me think.”

  He ignored the gasp from the outraged minister, but she kept quiet.

  “The way I see it,” Luke whispered to himself. “We’ve got one shot. Maybe two if we’re lucky.”

  “Agreed, Commander.”

  “But the second you fire he’ll be onto us?”

  “That is the case,” George confirmed.

  “We missed our best chance. He’s getting further away.”

  “If I may, Commander?”

  “Go ahead. What’re you thinking?”

  “This system is rife with objects large enough to conceal my presence. We can sling one in its direction and approach unobserved. At least we may get close enough for a kill shot.”

  “Do it,” Luke ordered.

  “Scanning nearby space,” George said.

  The chancellor looked about ready to burst.

  “What?” Luke asked gruffly.

  “Can’t we let the planet know that thing is coming?”

  “Not necessary, Madam Chancellor,” George said. “The Alliance Command Center in your capital city constantly monitors all drone reports. They are well aware of what’s going on.”

  Luke nodded but worry filled his mind. “But they may not know about it being a level-two-device.”

  “Perhaps, Commander. But the Jiguan planetary shield system is manually controlled from the surface. The Bakkui have no effect on their defenses.”

  “That’s true,” Luke agreed. “But we still need to inform Moonbase One on Earth about this. Can you send a message drone without it being spotted?”

  “Negative, Commander. The Bakkui would surely notice.”

  “Okay, prepare a complete report of this and have it ready. At the same time we fire, send out that report. Earth has to have this information. Roth and the George at Moonbase One might be able to come up with a defense.”

  “Order programmed, Commander. Stand by. I am repositioning to our new concealment.”

  The warship slid rapidly toward the back side of the planet. At the last second Luke saw a tiny asteroid coming out of the planet’s rings.

  “That looks too small, George.”

  “The smaller our concealment, the less likely it is to be noticed. So long as it obscures the Bakkui’s direct line of sight to my hull, it should do.”

  “How long until we catch it?” Luke asked.

  “We will not, Commander. Asteroids travel significantly slower than do spacecraft. Although I have arranged for the rock concealing us to move far faster than the rest of the asteroids in this system, we will not catch the enemy vessel until he has been in orbit for several days.”

  “What?” the chancellor cried. “You’re letting it attack?”

  “Yes, Madam Chancellor,” George confirmed. “But during the last attack your planet held out for almost two days. And that was during the simultaneous attack of several hundred warships. I must compliment you, by the way, for the robust nature of your shields. They are quite impressive.”

  “George!” she screamed in frustration.

  Luke gestured for her to be quiet. “Not ideal, but I agree this is our best shot.” He looked back at the angry young woman. “However, let’s monitor the situation closely. If the planetary shields start to fail, we’ll attack, no matter what the distance. After all, our goal is to save the planet. Not to destroy the enemy after it kills everyone on it.”

  “Understood, Commander.”

  “How long, then?” Luke still wanted to know

  “Twenty-seven days.”

  Luke groaned in frustration. “That’s a long time for the shields on the planet.” He flopped into the captain’s chair.

  “It is indeed, Commander.”

  “Is there no way to go faster?” the chancellor urged.

  Luke looked at the woman in the next chair. “Don’t be in such a hurry to go to your own funeral. You do realize that we’re not going to survive this, right?”

  “That’s not a consideration,” she replied calmly. “If we can stop that thing—if there’s even a chance—that’s the only thing that matters.”

  Luke smiled at her a bit sadly. It was a shame to see such spirit thrown away. But that seemed to be the way of the universe.

  “Let’s do some thinking,” he said. “I doubt we’re going to last twenty-seven days without being detected. George? Are the cannons already loaded?

  “Yes, Commander. As soon as we received the alert I chambered the two forward barrels with nuclear core rounds.”

  “Perfect. On the off chance we get more shots off before he returns fire, let’s go with standard solid core. Those load quicker, don’t they?”

  “They do. But I could load smaller nukes just as quickly. That might give you a higher PK.”

  “Proximity fusing?” Luke asked?

  “Affirmative.”

  “Let’s go with that, then.”

  “Programmed.”

  The chancellor held out her hands as a stop sign. “What are you two talking about?”

  Luke considered that she came from a planet without weapons. And she was the one who kept saying ‘kill it’. “George, fill her in.”

  While the warship explained the ramifications of PK—probability of kill ratios—to the young woman, Luke reviewed other possible outcomes. Finally, the woman leaned back in her chair.

  “I understand,” she said. “Thank you, George.”

  “What if we survive?” Luke asked. “I’m going to assume the Bakkui ship will get off a shot in our direction. What if he takes you out, George, but not the chancellor and me? What can we do to prepare for that?”

  “An excellent point, Commander. However, another possibility, and just as likely, is that our attack is successful, but that he simultaneously commands me to shut down. We should cover both eventualities.”

  Day 705—J64 (Jigu)

  Luke was sick of the view out the front window. The rocky surface of the asteroid they were following was the only thing he could see while George kept them carefully behind the tumbling chunk of ice and stone. The chancellor entered the bridge with fresh cups of coffee.

  During an unguarded moment of their enforced solitude she disclosed her given name was Sarangi. In her local tongue, Sarangi meant ‘love’. Luke remembered looking up Annie’s name on Wikipedia. Although Annie was a Hebrew name that meant ‘prayer,’ her full name, Annabelle, meant ‘loving.’ Inwardly he reflected on the fact that he had known two women from two planets with the same beautiful meaning behind their names, and that he was responsible for ruining both of their lives.

  With nothing to do during the past two weeks but talk, they had come to know each other on a personal level. Underneath her official robes she was not the fierce stateswoman that so intimidated him. Instead, she was a frightened twenty-five-year-old who missed her father and wanted to spend more time with her fiancé. Luke was unaware of that aspect in her life.

  “When’s the wedding?” Luke asked.

  She looked wistful. “Everything is on hold now. He said not to rush. He understands that it will take time to sort out my role as chancellor. For now, he loves flying your new warships.” She stopped abruptly, new tears on her cheeks. The young man was a patrol pilot. He was on duty the day she went to the moon.

  There was not much Luke could say to comfort her. He retrieved a blanket from her quarters and draped it over her shoulders. After a moment, she gathered her composure. “Thank you for your kindness,” she said. “I know that you have lost loved ones yourself; twice in fact. My grief cannot compare to yours.”

  That surprised him. It turned out the chancellor knew quite a lot about Luke. She admitted that in order to learn about her enemy she had pumped Tyler mercilessly to gain insight on the wa
rlord. Instead, he turned the tables and she wound up listening to an old man talk fondly about a good friend. Tyler had gone on for hours expounding on Luke’s background, how he was roped into saving the universe, and what he had accomplished.

  The chancellor confessed that while hearing Luke’s history, her hatred toward him had dissolved. She came to see Luke as the man he was, similar to herself, thrown into an unexpected situation and suddenly responsible for countless lives. Luke sent Tyler a silent thank you.

  She wrapped the blanket tightly around her shoulders and retreated to her room. Luke stayed on the bridge to give her time alone with memories of those she’d lost. An hour later, she reappeared with more hot coffee. Her hair was damp and she wore a fresh jumpsuit. She plopped down beside him in the first officer’s chair.

  “Anything new?” she asked.

  Luke shook his head without answering. They sipped the hot drinks in companionable silence until Luke started to nod off. He was vaguely aware that just before he fell asleep, the chancellor rescued his still half-full mug from his loosening grasp.

  # # #

  “Luke!” The chancellor was shaking him. “Wake up! George is talking to you.”

  Luke came alert quickly. “I’m awake. George, report!”

  “Commander, the planetary shields are failing. The time has come.”

  “Got it.” He looked at the chancellor. “You ready for this?”

  She covered his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I am. Thank you for everything, Commander.”

  He gave her a quick nod before facing the viewscreen.

  “All right, George. Execute the planned attack. You have control.”

  “Acknowledged, Commander. I have the hammer.”

  Luke felt the faintest tremor.

  “Message drone away,” George announced.

  Luke had set the highest priority on the message drone, even above saving the Jiguan planet. George had programmed it to fly directly astern until away from the system to keep it hidden from the Bakkui.

  “Firing main cannons,” George said.

  The familiar thumps vibrated through the bridge. Simultaneously an additional force field sprang out of the warship’s nose, and the engines engaged at full throttle. The plan was to push the asteroid directly at the Bakkui while continuing to fire. If the asteroid created even a momentary hesitation in the enemy’s response, it allowed more rounds to be fired.